Any regrets? - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Any one coming from an S4 regrets getting the nexus 5?

None! It was my biggest worry but I defnintely don't regret it. I love not having all the bloat that the S4 had. Even with a smaller battery, I'm getting better battery results than I ever did on the S4 as well. I honestly don't see a difference in the camera either.
My absolute biggest worry was losing all the space. Coming from a phone with a 64gb external sd card worried me a lot, but I finally gave in and subscribed the the Google Music service and I couldn't be happier.
Once all the ROM's fix the Sprint data issue, this phone will be even better, but I have no regrets.

Coming from an S4 too, gods I hated that phone, the bloatware, the knox (introduced after I bought it).
The battery life i find is better on my Nexus 5, seem strange but it's true, it waste very little battery power when on stand by.
The only thing I miss of the S4 is the camera. the Nexus' one is a clear step back, but I don't mind really I don't take many photos.

now i currently have an htc one with a cracked screen and i want to replace it.. Im an att user and well can get the s4 for like $150 but can always sell it buy the nexus and still have money left.. But one of the main issues i had with the HTC one is that no one! made accessories for it... like i was never able to find a waterproof cover, etc etc.. Im a bit worry that it will be the same with the nexus 5, that because it is not as popular it wont have many accessories

The only thing I miss is the AMOLED screen from my S3. It's a far better quality of colour reproduction. The N5 is a bit washed out.... but it is far sharper. Oh... and the camera SUCKS on the N5 in anything but perfect lighting conditions. I miss the shutter speed on the Samsungs. But this should be fixed in the next update.
Battery life isn't nearly as bad as I was lead to believe.

I like my S4 better. My S4 has better reception, I stripped off the extras I did not like. I currently have a 4.4 rom on my S4 so spare me the updates line, I unlocked it and added the TMobile band. What I hate about N5 is the body. Its a nightmare. Sharp edges where the glass meets plastic, the lens mount, power button is too high, feels cheap and feels horrible in my hand. As for price, with etf+tax+1st month, my S4 was only $30 more. Not much in savings
It's not a bad device once you get past the body, seems plenty fast, takes ok pics, battery life is ok. So it's not horrible and is starting it's life with top end hardware specs unlike the N4. It's just not for me. If it came in a similar body to the N4 or would have shaped the glass like the S3, it would have been a home run.

trendiggity said:
The only thing I miss is the AMOLED screen from my S3. It's a far better quality of colour reproduction. The N5 is a bit washed out.... but it is far sharper. Oh... and the camera SUCKS on the N5 in anything but perfect lighting conditions. I miss the shutter speed on the Samsungs. But this should be fixed in the next update.
Battery life isn't nearly as bad as I was lead to believe.
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From the S3? I had 2 of those and came to this. Not even comparable. The N5 destroys the S3 in EVERY way. Low light pictures, sunny day pictures, the camera is better on the N5. The S3 is supersaturated and does not reproduce color accurately at all.

I've had a n4, s4 and now have n5. Think they are all brilliant phones. I think I can certainly feel the performance on the n5 though and I really like the screen. It has such an understated no frills look about it and that really appeals to me. I loved the s4 but it was a bit blingy for my liking and I didn't feel like it was so much as a blank canvas as what the nexus 5 is if that makes sense.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Alo also trying to get into custom room and apps development... Is there any advantages on using the nexus instead of the samsung? I

SuperMiguel said:
Any one coming from an S4 regrets getting the nexus 5?
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I'm on my 2nd day with the 5 coming from an S4 running and early CM build of Kit Kat. So far, the only thing I really miss about the S4 is the screen. I guess I'm used to that super saturated AMOLED display. The Nexus display is sharper but like some others have said, a little washed out looking by comparison. The Nexus is noticeably faster and the battery life is about the same which is impressive considering I had a 3000mah battery in the S4. I think I'll be sticking with the 5 mostly for the dev community. I've always been a fan of straight AOSP and can't stand the OEM skins. The Nexus will be much more future proof than the S4. Getting new versions of Android on the Samsung will always be a bit hacky.

fallingd0wn said:
I'm on my 2nd day with the 5 coming from an S4 running and early CM build of Kit Kat. So far, the only thing I really miss about the S4 is the screen. I guess I'm used to that super saturated AMOLED display. The Nexus display is sharper but like some others have said, a little washed out looking by comparison. The Nexus is noticeably faster and the battery life is about the same which is impressive considering I had a 3000mah battery in the S4. I think I'll be sticking with the 5 mostly for the dev community. I've always been a fan of straight AOSP and can't stand the OEM skins. The Nexus will be much more future proof than the S4. Getting new versions of Android on the Samsung will always be a bit hacky.
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any issues running this phone on att? and how come only tmobile and sprint got it?

My S4 had better/stronger signal and a more HD intensive screen. I don't know how to explain it.
My N5 is faster definitely, but camera is kind of laggy though. The vibration motor is weaker, but still good.
Depends on budget, I'd go for a Note 3 over S4 for the price range.
But for $350, there is nothing better than the Nexus 5.

fallingd0wn said:
I think I'll be sticking with the 5 mostly for the dev community. I've always been a fan of straight AOSP and can't stand the OEM skins.
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I think this is a great comment. Coming from the Sprint S4, for some reason, the dev community never really sped up like I thought it would. Sure, there were some great ROM's, but it was pretty much between a couple Touchwiz ROM's and hoping that 3minit would work, or you had AOSP based ROM's where you were happy to have working data.
While working data on Sprint with some ROM's is an early challenge, it doesn't look like it will be an issue long term (there's already a flashable fix) and we already have a wide variety of ROM's available.
I definitely don't miss Touchwiz whatsoever.

dicecuber said:
My S4 had better/stronger signal and a more HD intensive screen. I don't know how to explain it.
My N5 is faster definitely, but camera is kind of laggy though. The vibration motor is weaker, but still good.
Depends on budget, I'd go for a Note 3 over S4 for the price range.
But for $350, there is nothing better than the Nexus 5.
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Im eligible with att for upgrade, so i can get the S4 for like $150, either way ill get it... Then sell it and back the rest, while i care about dev, im more worried about accessories availability, like for example a waterproof cover, i take my phone alot in my boat, and its wet alot..

I am starting to have regrets as I'm having issues with push notifications that I can't resolve. I might end up having to return the phone for a refund. If that issue can be fixed though, then I would have no regrets at all. I think the Nexus 5 is an otherwise great phone.

SuperMiguel said:
Im eligible with att for upgrade, so i can get the S4 for like $150, either way ill get it... Then sell it and back the rest, while i care about dev, im more worried about accessories availability, like for example a waterproof cover, i take my phone alot in my boat, and its wet alot..
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Funny you say that, because my first S4 was water damaged in a boating incident lol. it was deemed unrepairable by 5+ cell phone repair shops. So I purchased a Note 2 afterwards. Sold that and bought another S4. I loved that device too much. My device was then stolen so I had to use a old POS non-smartphone for 2 months. I couldn't see myself spending another $600+ to buy another S4. So I jumped on buying a nexus 5. I love the Nexus 5 now. 1080p 5inch screen quad core processor 2gb ram to name a few.

I have the n4 and s4 sitting next to me currently my s4 is on sprint while my n5 is on straight talk att. And I can tell you IMO that my n5 in ALL areas is better than both devices. One area that is extremely noticeable is the all around speed and smoothness of the n5 when compared to the other phones. Also typing and touch seems a lot more responsive on this device as well. Often times I would find typing on the s4 to be choppy and laggy and often couldn't keep up. And I am running the latest official 4.3 release from sprint all stock. Tried swapping keyboards too on it and its just not the same as the n5. I do a ton of multi tasking on my phone. And this is where the n5 really shines. I can jump between texting and surfing the web and checking emails without a single hitch. And I really love that. I have owned all the major Samsung phones and after the n4 I have been pretty much hooked on nexus devices. As for the camera I actually find it on par with my s4 a lot of people talk about shutter lag but I find the shutter speed to be about the same as it is on the s4. So not much of a difference there. And in a lot of my low light shots my n5 out performed my s4. So all around I am a pretty happy camper. Oh and service on at straight talk is so much better than sprint for me. I get consistent LTE everywhere.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

From reading the more in-depth reviews the Nexus 5 screen has some of the most accurate colours on an LCD beating out iPhone models even which are known for their calibration. It however does not have as high of a contrast ratio as even the LG G2 or the saturated colours AMOLED screens are known for. That mixed with the slightly smaller usable screen space when including the Home bar on the N5 would give the S4 the brighter and more stand out screen at first glance and on store shelves.
Myself I prefer accurate colours versus over saturated ones and only use high brightness settings when being used in direct sunlight. That being said after seeing AMOLED's "completely off" black levels (and the features it can bring such as Glance support and 24/7 Daydream) no black screen on IPS can ever look as dark.

I hated how weak the s4 would feel. I was afraid to put it in my pocket becausw it would break. And i hated the screen. You could see there were 2 0arts of the screen and the digitixer was glued under a piece of plastic. While with the nexus everything is so nice. I know in 4 months I will get bored of aosp roms and miss some tw features but whatever there is time till then.

i just found out that the S4 is at a very bad spot at the moment, if you have their latest baseband you cant use custom kernels, etc.. So that may lean me more towards the s5

Related

Coming from Galaxy Nexus

Just received the htc one s today,I must say im impressed even coming from a galaxy nexus which i still have.The one s is so smooth and i must say i like sense 4, stock android got a little boring after awhile.Hate it if you want but sense brings some useful features to the table and it looks professional unlike touch wiz and the cartoon icons.Even tho its pentile amoled the screen looks much better than the galaxy nexus hd amoled screen reason mostly because of the blobs and lines on the nexus.Im huge on music and htc seems to always have better sound cards/drivers than sammy.Overall im happy with both phones i will occasionally switch back and forth when im bored now all i have to do is order a micro sim adapter =( and root but ill hold out till dev picks up
I too came from a Galaxy Nexus, and thus far, I'm happy I made the trade (equal swap, Galaxy Nexus with box and accessories new condition for a new condition One S with box and accessories).
The main reason I made the trade was because my Nexus had the worst case of the blues (and yellows). It had the worst blue-ish/yellow-ish tint/hue I've seen on any S-Amoled phone I've owned. The SGS2 I have is a lower res, but the S-Amoled Plus made a big difference in regards to generating accurate whites without a yellow layer looming over.
Ultimately I'm happy I made the swap and I actually realized that I prefer the 4.3 inch display with the soft capacitive buttons over the 4.65. I'm also one of the rare folks who prefers the pentile qHD display due to everything looking a bit sharper, which has been much easier on my eyes.
Glad you like the One S, I'm completely satisfied with mines so far and for the first time in 6 months of switching back and forth between phones, I've got a keeper, and have found the "One".
I havent really found the right one yet there seems to be flaws with all the phones in the past 6 months iv'e owned (iphone 4) lack of hspa+ speed on tmobile (sensation 4g)dust under screen over heating(amaze 4g)horrible battery life(galaxy s2)blobs and lines on screen,call echo with case on(galaxy nexus)i got lucky had minimal lines on screen only on extremely low lights.And now the one s.I love both the nexus and one s maybe i'll sell both and get the galaxy s3 when it comes out.But for now im enjoying it while my nexus gathers dust.
HigherSensation said:
I havent really found the right one yet there seems to be flaws with all the phones in the past 6 months iv'e owned (iphone 4) lack of hspa+ speed on tmobile (sensation 4g)dust under screen over heating(amaze 4g)horrible battery life(galaxy s2)blobs and lines on screen,call echo with case on(galaxy nexus)i got lucky had minimal lines on screen only on extremely low lights.And now the one s.I love both the nexus and one s maybe i'll sell both and get the galaxy s3 when it comes out.But for now im enjoying it while my nexus gathers dust.
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Haha, we're all almost identical in the phone's we've owned in the past 6 months.
I had (still have) an iPhone 4 (I know, dirty right? The games are still great, despite the smaller screen), and I also couldn't use it due to lack of 3G and running on slow ass edge. Also had an HTC Amaze with HORRIBLE battery, SGS2 had blobs, but the colors were great and battery life wasn't as bad once I flashed a great ICS Rom on it (shout out to TDJ for Darkside Evolution ICS port), Galaxy Nexus, which I actually liked, but personally, thought it was a bit too big and the screen color issues killed it for me, and now the One S, which I have yet to put down to be honest. My wife has been berating me about the time I spend with this phone (or all phones for that matter) as opposed to you know, couple things, but I can't help it, there's just so many choices!
The galaxy S2 wasnt bad at all i only jumped ship when i seen the nexus for 400.I ended up selling my white t989 for 450 and getting the nexus for 442 tax and shipping included..The t989 forums has little dev activity but they do have great devs most notably Eugene373 for his cm7 and muiu kangs..Since you've had the One S a bit longer than I is there any issues?And also hows the battery life so far.Its on par with the t989 on my end but i've only received the phone today..
HigherSensation said:
The galaxy S2 wasnt bad at all i only jumped ship when i seen the nexus for 400.I ended up selling my white t989 for 450 and getting the nexus for 442 tax and shipping included..The t989 forums has little dev activity but they do have great devs most notably Eugene373 for his cm7 and muiu kangs..Since you've had the One S a bit longer than I is there any issues?And also hows the battery life so far.Its on par with the t989 on my end but i've only received the phone today..
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So far battery imo has been better then the Nexus, and about on par with the SGS2, slightly better. I use Juice Defender to boost battery life, and it's helped. I've gotten up to 11 hours of very very heavy usage on the One S playing Temple Run for long periods of time, surfing the web, playing more temple run, texting, emailing, phone calls, navigation and gps, downloading apps, fiddling with the OS, etc, and this is all stock. I haven't rooted or installed a rom, I'm strictly stock as of right now. There's a few animation glitches here and there.
For example, when scrolling through the Gmail widget, the widget will think I'm trying to resize it, which gets annoying, but if you scroll slowly, you won't have that issue. I'm sure the carrier will send a fix for these minor mishaps.
Otherwise I've had a few data connectivity issues, and I live in a pretty good HSPA+ location where I get 15-22mb down and about 5-7 up. It sometimes goes into airplane mode on it's own only to turn back on, and I realize this because I'll get the notification for the same voicemail I haven't checked for 2 days. It doesn't happen very often and when it does, you probably won't even notice.
That's pretty much all I've spotted thus far, it's been great otherwise and I'm having fun playing with the stock build until I end up rooting it and flashing a rom (if I end up doing so, I'm enjoying stock enough to not feel it necessary to do so).
Plus, been getting great benchmarks, roughly 5000 on quadrant, which is much higher then stock ICS on the G-Nexus and the SGS2.
It's zippy, it's quick, it works well, Sense 4.0 isn't overbloated or cartoonish like TouchWiz, and it's thin enough to catch people's attention and ask me what it is.
So ultimately, I think you'll end up enjoying this device. It's really much cleaner and more fluid of an experience over the Amaze, and has just about the right battery life to get you through the day with moderate to high use.
Nice review ...How about cases,which do you have? I see they have the cruzer lite for the one s.
HigherSensation said:
Nice review ...How about cases,which do you have? I see they have the cruzer lite for the one s.
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Thanks
I haven't bought a case yet, I went to a kiosk in our local Galleria called "Gadget Guard", they went ahead and installed a complete body cover, great quality, perfect installation on the front and back, doesn't compromise the speaker grills, camera, or the flash. It also doesn't have the quasi-ridges that you see on Zagg protectors. So I'm content with this thus far until I see a nice case. Thing is, the phone is so elegant as is, so thin and feels great in the hand, that I feel somewhat bad casing it up. But on the other end, it's cash in my hand, so I have to protect my investment!
I hadn't seen those Cruzer cases, just googled it, those look sweet.
check this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622006
HigherSensation said:
check this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622006
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Ah man the clear one is nice, but so is the black one. Think I'm gonna order one of both. Thanks, I've been searching for cases, and I think I'm done searching now.
---------- Post added at 05:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 AM ----------
HigherSensation said:
check this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1622006
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http://store.androidandme.com/cruze...rlite-androidified-a2-tpu-case/4A54A11361.htm
They have buy 2 get one free!!!
HigherSensation said:
Just received the htc one s today,I must say im impressed even coming from a galaxy nexus which i still have.The one s is so smooth and i must say i like sense 4, stock android got a little boring after awhile.Hate it if you want but sense brings some useful features to the table and it looks professional unlike touch wiz and the cartoon icons.Even tho its pentile amoled the screen looks much better than the galaxy nexus hd amoled screen reason mostly because of the blobs and lines on the nexus.Im huge on music and htc seems to always have better sound cards/drivers than sammy.Overall im happy with both phones i will occasionally switch back and forth when im bored now all i have to do is order a micro sim adapter =( and root but ill hold out till dev picks up
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I'm in the EXACT same position as you. Love both and will be switching between the two. Hate touchwiz and Samsung and love HTC. Oh well.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA
It came down to the One S or the Galaxy Nexus for me and I am glad that I went with the One S. The design of the phone is just too beautiful. I've had the AOSP experience on ICS and I'm okay with Sense being on top. A phone that is 5 months ahead of another phone really proves what it can improve on and the One S is proof of that.
I too came from the Nexus Prime, and I like the screen of the one S better than the nexus, especially considering that the nexus had an HD screen. I also had the international one X and that screen is just AMAZING but unfortunately would not get T-Mobile 3G or 4G so I got the one S instead & I'm loving it. Slim design, excellent battery life and great screen. Only thing I would like would be a 32GB version like the one X and on screen keys like the nexus but overall I like it. The battery last way longer than the nexus.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

(Q) / Rant

I keep going back and fourth between my gsg3 and galaxy nexus and cannot make up my mind firmly and would like to hoping to get something going to help me weigh my options better. I love the sgs3 everything about it from stock battery life to camera size is good a bit bulky for me even though i have big hands its still something of a getting used to in width far as reaching thumb across the screen.
The nexus love the dev community in terms of selection of roms and such however sgs3 will have aosp as well as tw variants im sure in the future
both have great speed good amount of memory space available for files that is I just keep going back and fourth and cannot make up my mind on this. so any of you that may have both devices as well or put hands on both and have some valid insight and thoughts id appreciate greatly.
mikeew83 said:
I keep going back and fourth between my gsg3 and galaxy nexus and cannot make up my mind firmly and would like to hoping to get something going to help me weigh my options better. I love the sgs3 everything about it from stock battery life to camera size is good a bit bulky for me even though i have big hands its still something of a getting used to in width far as reaching thumb across the screen.
The nexus love the dev community in terms of selection of roms and such however sgs3 will have aosp as well as tw variants im sure in the future
both have great speed good amount of memory space available for files that is I just keep going back and fourth and cannot make up my mind on this. so any of you that may have both devices as well or put hands on both and have some valid insight and thoughts id appreciate greatly.
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I went from the GN to S3.. I have not yet turned back. S3 has done everything that the GN has and have done it better. Are there options that you dont like on the S3? The only thing that i didnt like on the S3 was the Messaging software. I like the one from the GN better. I ended up flashing SlimRom on it and all is well. There are a few flaws here and there, but nothing majorly noticeable.
As for size.. I agree that it is bigger. With the GN i never had a case for it, and so i was use to the slim feel. I got the S3 and was amazed that the phone was the same thickness almost. But i ended up getting an Otterbox and so i made it more bulky than i prefer. But awesomeness comes with a price. I love my S3. and will not turn back.
Good luck on making your decision.
I had the Gnex and switched to the S3
first I hated the middle button only for the first 3-days tho after that I got used to it and like it. My wife still has the Gnex and every-time I'm doing something on it I try to push the button in the middle which it obviously doesn't have.
10 quick easons why the S3 is the BIG winner for me.
1. Super AMOLED screen
2. Gorilla Glass (better agains scratches)
3. The build quality, I love the rounded screen style and color
4. it seems lighter and better to hold.
5. 1.5GHz-stock vs 1.2GHz-stock on the Gnex
6. Battery Life (I doubt it's just me, but I had the extended battery on the Gnex which was 2100mah just as the S3's stock battery but my S3 beats the Gnex ANY DAY I'm running Synergy's ROM and I get 3h screen on time with about 1-1.5h of calling time and my phone still has about 10% at the end of the day)--Opened Stock Kernel--
7. call quality
8. the build in speaker sooooo loud & even on head-phones there's a reason when you bump up your volume it says "loud music may harm your hearing if you listen to it for a long time" Beats Audio...WHO?!
9. Way better 4G connection with no dropps my Gnex always used to get on & off 4G in my Apt well with the S3 I even have 4G in the deep garage
10. It's newer and SAMSUNG's FlagShip device
Thought I throw this together quick since no one answered. OHH never-mind iSpyder was 1min quicker hahaa
galchristian said:
I had the Gnex and switched to the S3
first I hated the middle button only for the first 3-days tho after that I got used to it and like it. My wife still has the Gnex and every-time I'm doing something on it I try to push the button in the middle which it obviously doesn't have.
10 quick easons why the S3 is the BIG winner for me.
1. Super AMOLED screen
2. Gorilla Glass (better agains scratches)
3. The build quality, I love the rounded screen style and color
4. it seems lighter and better to hold.
5. 1.5GHz-stock vs 1.2GHz-stock on the Gnex
6. Battery Life (I doubt it's just me, but I had the extended battery on the Gnex which was 2100mah just as the S3's stock battery but my S3 beats the Gnex ANY DAY I'm running Synergy's ROM and I get 3h screen on time with about 1-1.5h of calling time and my phone still has about 10% at the end of the day)
7. call quality
8. the build in speaker sooooo loud & even on head-phones there's a reason when you bump up your volume it says "loud music may harm your hearing if you listen to it for a long time" Beats Audio...WHO?!
9. Way better 4G connection with no dropps my Gnex always used to get on & off 4G in my Apt well with the S3 I even have 4G in the deep garage
10. It's newer and SAMSUNG's FlagShip device
Thought I throw this together quick since no one answered. OHH never-mind iSpyder was 1min quicker hahaa
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Cant forget the camera quality!! I thought the GN was a bit grainy. But the S3 has given perfect shots so far. LOVE LOVE LOVE the camera.
I am so happy I got rid of the GNEX for the S3. When I first bought my S3 I still had my GNEX and when I had them side by side the GNEX just looked dated. I know people say the GNEX is so sleek with no physical buttons but up to my white S3 the GNEX was the ugly duckling.
They both have Super Amoled screens but Samsung did the S3 write with the way they tweaked it and really screwed over the GNEX users. Luckily you can tweak the GNEX screen but I still think the S3 screen spanks it. Even the blacks look better on the S3.
Camera, in good lighting situations and mostly outdoor lighting the GNEX camera looks just as good as the S3. Once the sun goes down or you go indoors you might as well pack up the GNEX's camera and wait for the sun to rise again. Low light pictures were terrible and grainy. There are phones that came out a year before the GNEX and can take much better low light pics. Samsung should have no sacrificed the picture quality for no shutter speed. I would have been happier if they just used the GS2 camera in the phone but they didn't.
Battery life. Does the GNEX even know it has a battery in it? I think sometimes when I used it no one reminded it there is something powering it and it can actual stay on for a little bit. With the 2100mAh battery I was lucky, and I mean lucky if I could hit 2 hours on on screen time over 4G. The S3 with a higher clock speed and larger screen can give me 3-4 hours on screen time over 4G over a 15 hours time frame. That is just perfect. Can't imagine myself using the phone on an average day on strictly 4G for over 4 hours on screen time.
I was also not a fan of the on-screen buttons of the GNEX. The screen was not large enough for me to be ruined with buttons. I can see it on the Note or something of that size, but for a phone I am not a fan.
Oh, and TW is pretty sweet as well. I liked it on my S2 and like it even more on the S3. I feel no need to jump onto an AOSP rom. It offers nothing more then we already have. All I need now is some fully working TW JB!
Would love to hear what it is that is keeping you using the GNEX because I can't think of anything........
Those are some long and well thought out replies. I'm another that was happy to go from the gnex to the s3. Had the unlocked BL not been leaked....it may have been a different story.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
got556 said:
Those are some long and well thought out replies. I'm another that was happy to go from the gnex to the s3. Had the unlocked BL not been leaked....it may have been a different story.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
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+1
I had high hopes for the BL to get unlocked. I was about to cancel my pre-order when i found out the news. All in all, Everything worked out.
I had the Galaxy Nexus and I went through 5 of them! The first one I had overheated really badly. The second one lasted me a good six months but then it had a screen burn in issue. After that Verizon had sent me 3 crappy CLN devices and I complained and complained for them to give me a Galaxy SIII. Here is why the S3 is better.
1) Battery Life-Oh my God! The battery life on the Nexus was horrible...sometimes my phone would drop to 40% within one hour.
2)The Screen-even though the screen technology is the same...the difference are like night and day. All the problems with the Nexus's screen. Samsung ironed out with the S3's screen. Such as this grainy effect on low brightness.
3)The camera...i dont really care that the camera on the Nexus was 5mp...but the quality was just plain horrible especially in low light.
4) Signal! I get 4G in places I never got it with my Nexus
5)Call quality is waay better.
6)Sound quality- you can barely hear ANYTHING out of the loud speaker on the Nexus
7)Build quality-Both phones are made of plastic, but no matter which Nexus I had my battery door never seemed to fit correctly on any of them. Also the generic "fortified glass" on the Nexus gets scratched really easily.
8)Specs-The S4 and the 2gb of RAM make this thing blazingly fast...even faster than my Nexus was on a JellyBean ROM with project butter.
9) I cant believe Im saying this...but there are things in touchwiz that I like better than stock android such as the swiping motion to take a screenshot...however I did have to download the stock ICS keyboard because the touchwiz keyboard sucks and I installed nova launcher over the touchwiz launcher. Also, the way I figure it is the VZW Nexus isnt a true Nexus anyway, so updates arent really on the top of my list. However I do miss some of the ROMs for the Nexus. JellyBean ROMs were out right away with the Nexus and right now all we have is beta
software.
So anyway, I would highly recommend going with the Galaxy S3 or waiting for the next Nexus or Nexi
I thank everyone for there input so far I think for me the biggest thing about the s3 is I am not a fan of tw however love smemo and the camera app with smile detection and such with a 3 month old I use that a lot but as of right now seems so to speak I can't have my cake and eat it to and I prefer the nav keys on the Nexus
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
After having sense, I really have no love for tw anymore either. I do not like the on screen buttons much, I really don't get the love for them.
Throw apex or nova on the SGS and most of the tw issues are gone with the benefits of the underlying apps
Sent from my thumbs with no brain censorship
I've found TouchWiz to be more configurable and natural for me than Sense, and really don't need AOSP JellyBean at this time. I'm content to wait for Samsung's JB update.
I never owned a Galaxy Nexus but have used them and my S3 feels better in the hand for me, despite its size.
- ooofest
Most of everyone hit the nail right on the head as far as comparing the two devices... I still have my Galaxy Nexus because it is a GREAT inexpensive backup LTE phone and it is still FAST as hell!! I do like the fact that it has on screen nav buttons that can be themed in ANY way you would like depending what rom you are using... With JellyBean on the Gnex it is just as fast as far as scrolling speeds and opening and closing apps (IMO) as the SG3 is... BUT, the camera SUCKS on the Gnex and the battery life is terrible no matter what rom you are running unless you just use it a few times a day to answer calls and text. Now if you start diving into multiple apps and running some heavy games then you will KNOW that you have the SG3... The Gnex bogs down fairly quickly trying to keep up with multitasking and gaming is a no-go as far as I am concerned... I did go through about 3 Gnex's myself because of screen burn in and intermittent loss of signal but I finally got a keeper and I still flash roms on it cause I am a flashaholic! My Daily Driver is my SG3 with CleanRom & his Kernel and that combo can't be beat for me right now... I run Nova Launcher so I can swipe up to clear my running apps and do other things so that I don't have to keep hitting that damn physical home button that I have not fell in love with as of yet but it is a matter of preference as far as that goes and with all the apps out there are several ways to combat anything that you don't like on the SG3. With all that being said I am in LOVE with my SG3 and my Nexus but if I had to pick one it would def be the GS3!! :victory:

Nexus 4 vs nexus 5, worth upgrading?

Greetings,
At the moment I have a nexus 4 and I'm quite happy about it, though some things could be better. I was wondering if the upgrade is worth it though? I can sell my nexus 4, and get a nexus 5 for 180€ extra. I know the big changes (screen, dimensions, camera, looks). But what about the little changes that matter to me. Is the speaker much better? How about microphone, call quality, wifi reception, loose hardware keys and pressability, scratch resistance of the back (do I need a bumper or not), slippery resistance of the back, touch responsiveness (nexus 4 wasn't very sensitive). Also softwareside (although nexus 4 will be getting it as well), I wondered if the google play store lost it dedicated soft key in the app drawer? And how do you place your widgets at the screen?
If some of these little irks can be solved, I'll be thankful!
Edit: I've ordered it anyway, but I would still like to have some feedback.
Pretty much the same quandary here. I ordered one but am having second thoughts. Had the Nexus 4 for almost a year and have been very happy with it. My only major complaint is that I get better cell reception on my old RAZR... especially when I am holding it.
I thought I'd try sprint via Ting to see if I get better service than T-Mobile, but now I am seeing remarks that Ting won't be able to activate it. Since it's still an lg, I am doubtful the radios will be any better, and as I am rarely in an LTE service area, no real benefit there. But if they are noticeably better that would be a big plus.
No real interest in more pixels as my eyes see the Nexus 4 screen as being just fine. I'm sure I'd appreciate the better camera, but have no real complaints about the Nexus 4 camera.
I rarely use the speaker as it is so unusable, but the HTC One is so far the only phone I've used that has usable speakers and am less than confident the Nexus 5 will be anywhere in that league.
This thread would probably be better served in the Nexus 4 forum.
That thread wouldn't be any helpful in the n4 forum. If you post here they'll say yeah because they got the n5 and if you're on the n4 they'll say stay. Either way you're going to get biased posts.
I'd say just go ahead and do it. It's a upgrade in every way. Think of it as a upgrade for your phone. I went for it because I'm a nexus fan boy and love the look of the nexus 5 so I went for it.
Plus. I'm not too much of a fan of the vibration on the nexus 4. It is severely weak for me
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
720p vs 1080p ( 318 ppi vs 445 ppi)
1.5 Ghz Quad vs 2.3 Ghz Quad
A crappy camera vs a much better version camera (same 8mp)
2100 mAh vs 2300 mAh (same sh!t IMO)
And 4.4 KitKat with fastest update from Google (main point).
Go for it, just ~$400. Or you want some kind of $600 with 4.2 Android?
It's your money what do you think
I was torn as well and i can only tell you my reasoning. I also upgraded from a 16GB to 32GB. hated running out of room so damn fast with 16GB.
-Much better camera, in tests shots it destroys the N4
-Better battery life, in tests i've seen done and the official specs it's better than the N4 with LTE on. Now the battery is not much bigger but the better battery life is due to the processor and changes in android.
-dual speakers should bring a much louder device, and better sounding
For me, from what I've seen from people who have it, it fixes all of my hates on the N4, i wish it was smaller but so be it, at least it's not insanely larger than the N4.
it's up to each individual for what you want to do. If you go for off contract phones and you want to upgrade, this is your best bet right now unless your willing to spend the $700 on a GS4 or something similar, in my opinion.
neok44 said:
I was torn as well and i can only tell you my reasoning. I also upgraded from a 16GB to 32GB. hated running out of room so damn fast with 16GB.
-Much better camera, in tests shots it destroys the N4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for more storage, but I did order the 32
Can you link to those test shots? Everything I've seen thus far hasn't impressed me.
Solutions Etcetera said:
No need for more storage, but I did order the 32
Can you link to those test shots? Everything I've seen thus far hasn't impressed me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah for me it's mostly just OCD of seeing less than 2GB. Plus unless it can get USBOTG i'll need that space if i ever want to put some movies or shows on it. Admittedly i don't do it often, but it's nice to know you can.
Anyway, here are the test shots i saw and i was very happy. Is it a DSLR? no, but IMO it's a lot better than the N4 and on par with most of the others, if not slightly better in some tests.
http://recombu.com/mobile/news/google-nexus-5-camera-comparison_M19696.html
Its worth upgrading if you can afford it. KitKat is running so well on my N4 so I decided to stick with it a little longer.
eksasol said:
Its worth upgrading if you can afford it. KitKat is running so well on my N4 so I decided to stick with it a little longer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think in general it would run quite well for most devices as they optimized it more to work for devices with less ram. But yeah for the most part, nexus 4 is pretty smooth running kit Kat. The only upgrade would be the device itself in terms of screen size and some other nice small additions.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Someone else's 'worth it' probably isn't the same as your 'worth it'.
Seeing average prices on swappa for n4's are about $250, the n5 will be quite affordable after selling the n4.
Snapdragon 800 come to papa.
Kit Kat Nexus⁴ p)
I am jumping the gun lol
Seems Ting hasn't worked out the Nexus 5 yet, so I canceled my order.
I'll continue to use the Nexus 4 on t-mobile until that happens.
Yes, you should definitely upgrade if you have money to spare. I sold my nexus 4 last weekend and got the nexus 5 today. totally worth it!
I just upgraded my Nexus 4 to a Nexus 5 and, while I was cautious at first, I think I made the right choice.
The N5 feels much brisker, the screen's much brighter and higher quality and the camera is...an improvement, albeit a small one. The biggest issue for me was getting the Snapdragon 800, which should be reasonably future proof.

Is it worth it to upgrade? (Galaxy S4)

I wanted to know if anyone regrets his/her decision to get a Nexus 5 since im kinda stuck. My S4 is fine but i saw 2friends getting this weird break in the screen, where the gorilla glass is all fine, but the amoled behind it is broken. So I'm really scared that, that will happen to me.
I was wondering if its worth to upgrade? what do you think?
thanks in advance
I don't someone else can answer this for you. It's really all about personal preference, necessity, financial feasibility, etc.
Are you happy with your S4? Does it suit your purposes or not? Do you just want to have the latest/greatest? Are there features of your S4 that you may not be able to live without by switching to a pure Google device?
As for the break in the screen, that doesn't happen on its own. It would require pressure to break. So long as you treat your device right I wouldn't worry about it.
Toxina said:
I wanted to know if anyone regrets his/her decision to get a Nexus 5 since im kinda stuck. My S4 is fine but i saw 2friends getting this weird break in the screen, where the gorilla glass is all fine, but the amoled behind it is broken. So I'm really scared that, that will happen to me.
I was wondering if its worth to upgrade? what do you think?
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S4 has far better speakers (soundquality and volume level), better camera, higher storage capacity, and some usefull TW features as well (apart from the bloatware). So i wouldn`t change personaly. The 4.4 stock UI looks awfull imo if you don`t slap a custom launcher and icons on it.
Toxina said:
I wanted to know if anyone regrets his/her decision to get a Nexus 5 since im kinda stuck. My S4 is fine but i saw 2friends getting this weird break in the screen, where the gorilla glass is all fine, but the amoled behind it is broken. So I'm really scared that, that will happen to me.
I was wondering if its worth to upgrade? what do you think?
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the S4, HTC One, Moto X and now the Nexus 5 in the past 4-5 months. I personally didn't like having a physical home button or the back button setup on the GS4 and I couldn't stand TouchWiz. I honestly wish there was a high end Moto X. I would buy that in heartbeat.
Just like Tony said, it's all based on personal preference.
I have just received my Nexus 5 as a replacement for the S4 (international) that I have had for the past nine months.
The S4 has had CM10 for as long as I have been able to, and so I can't comment on Touchwiz, which I thought was a design abomination.
The drivers for change were:
Cheap exterior on S4
Annoying placement of butttons
Poor battery/network issues due to the proprietary bits hacked into CM
Camera issues for the same reason
Slow uptake on new ROMs due to there being 72 different versions of the phone (no OmniROM for example)
Wanting the Google experience unadulterated
Samsung's stance on custom ROMs (Knox implementation and so on)
I will report back in a few days but first impressions of the Nexus are that it feels like a much higher quality device.
gee2012 said:
The S4 has far better speakers (soundquality and volume level), better camera, higher storage capacity, and some usefull TW features as well (apart from the bloatware). So i wouldn`t change personaly. The 4.4 stock UI looks awfull imo, so slap a custom launcher and icons on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am actually liking the 4.4 look and the white status bar. I was never a fan of the blue.
As far as changing, if you like your S4 keep it. If you dont then try the N5. You have to weigh what is important to you.
gee2012 said:
The S4 has far better speakers (soundquality and volume level), better camera, higher storage capacity, and some usefull TW features as well (apart from the bloatware). So i wouldn`t change personaly. The 4.4 stock UI looks awfull imo, so slap a custom launcher and icons on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The N5 speaker is fine for me as is the camera; I never even came close to utilizing the storage capacity on my S4 and I absolutely despise TouchWiz. I think that stock 4.4 looks absolutely fantastic and wouldn't change a thing about it as of yet.
So you see how personal preference really drives a decision like this. If you like the Google Experience and aren't keen on the crap customizations that other OEMs put on their devices, I really think that the N5 is a fantastic option and am really loving mine so far.
I own the GE S4 and did purchased the N5. The GE S4 does have ridiculous battery life and also swappable battery and a SD card. I only reason why I went back to the nexus line up is the nexus forum. I am praying the N5 does have better bettery life then the N4(one of reason why I sold it)
Sent from my GT-I9505G using xda app-developers app
In terms of usability I think that the S4 is just as good as the Nexus 5, no real point in spending money on something you don't *really* need.
Then again, if you can sell your S4 for about the same price it would cost you to get a Nexus 5, and you really dig the Nexus 5, then why the heck not?
rivlez said:
I've had the S4, HTC One, Moto X and now the Nexus 5 in the past 4-5 months. I personally didn't like having a physical home button or the back button setup on the GS4 and I couldn't stand TouchWiz. I honestly wish there was a high end Moto X. I would buy that in heartbeat.
Just like Tony said, it's all based on personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
my few cents, i've got my N5 today and I am really torn between it and my old SGS3 with 1 GB ram (the crappy version)!
Design and Build quality:
My first impression was that this is the coolest and sexiest mobile phone i ever held in my hands. Feels awesome and looks awesome, much better than you would imagine seeing the pics online.
Display:
N5 display is certainly sharper, but also a bit washed and kinda unimpressive compared to IP5 or HTC one. What surprised me is that the SGS3 amoled produces whiter whites unless i really crank up the brightness on N5, which makes it really annoyingly bright and hard to look at. Viewing angles are much better on amoled of course. N5 Soft keys take too much screen estate imho, but that can be fixed.
UI:
N5 is extremely responsive and fast. Feels very good. No Lag at all, but tbh the difference to TW is not that bad as 4.2.2 and some modded kernels and frameworks make TW smooth and acceptably lagfree.
Camera:
Big advantage for the SGS 3 and probably much more for the S4. Unbelievably ****ty and laggy camera app on the N5, picture quality is disappointing, much worse than S3. Video is unbearable, permanent refocusing and overreaction on bright/dark areas, massive overexposure. I really hope google fixes the software.
Speaker:
Ok, no difference for me.
Battery Life:
My crappy S3 survives more screen-on time while browsing with wifi, kinda unimpressive tbh for a new generation device. Maybe 4 hours of screenon time for N5, 4.5 to 5 on S3. Let's see what tweaking can or cannot do.
Big Letdown: Chrome. This crap browser is notably slower than the samsung browser, probably a lot slower than s4 browser. Chrome on the N5 loads faster but it is lagging and just a huge disappointment, really bad experience.
I will think about it for a few days, currently I tend to returning the N5.
Hope this helps.
Knox was the last straw so selling my s4 before the 4.3 TouchWiz releases in Canada. I don't like a device that if I root + custom recovery, I can not return to default state. No more Samsung for me.
Sent from my SGH-I337M
This crap browser is notably slower than the samsung browser, probably a lot slower than s4 browser. Chrome on the N5 loads faster but it is lagging and just a huge disappointment, really bad experience.
I will think about it for a few days, currently I tend to returning the N5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can anyone recommend a browser similar to the AOSP/Touchwiz one? It's the only thing I miss on my N5 after switching from a Note II. Boat browser crashes, flash doesn't work in firefox...

Coming from the S4, thoughts?

Looking to get a Nexus 5, If I sell my s4 I can ultimately gain an extra $40 from it as well. I was using a N4 prior to my s4, only thing I hated on the N4 was the washed out display and weak camera. My reason to switch again is Stock Android which I do miss with fast updates and great community for rom development, and also if the camera is great for decent shots (indoor, outdoor) I've read reviews but there all mixed. Please share some experience if you have any
If you search you will find what you are looking for. Also the s4 sells for $300, I don't know how you will gain an extra $40
Not sure where you are from but a pentaband version has a high price where I'm from.. and thanks I shall search
My experience with the nexus 5 has been brilliant so far, of course the are some drawbacks because of the price such as the camera but unless you are demanding a good camera its fine. Performance has been excellent and the only time the phone got unbearably hot was when I was backing up the phone on twrp.
Nexus 5, CM11, Franco kernel and Xposed framework
i sold my s4 with spigen tempered glass which was perfect condition for $405. I made a good choice moving to N5. only thing that I miss is the all the gimmicks that I rarely used. (wave to answer calls and such)
this is my opinion comparing the two.
N5 screen seems washed out when brightness is on max since LCD back light bleeds through. 60 - 80% brightness can cover that and get you a good contrast ratio (to my eyes) yet still brighter than S4 display. I do miss that true black color but I prefer whiter whites than blacker blacks.
Removable battery is a nice option but frankly, I've never taken apart to swap batteries. I'd rather grab battery case to extend my current juice than swapping it out. Even with smaller N5 battery, i can go all day. I'm a heavy email user and make nearly 0 calls. so N5 battery is no problem for me.
Samsung's Android update is pretty unpredictable. you'll never know when they'll push updates and not all regions get the same update. your region might even skip that update. Carriers blame samsung and samsung blames carriers for update screw ups. you are just stuck in the middle hoping to get some sort of update.
N5 has nearly 0 function if you move from Samsung. IR controls, surround group musics, touchless motion gestures aren't avail to N5. but N5 has one thing that I use the most - NFC, which is nice so I got that going.
I could keep going with pros and cons, but when it comes to pros, N5 has more advantages in my honest opinion. we can't really make decision for you, we can only provide our thoughts. I hope you choose whats right for you instead of choosing something just because that's what everyone gets. just do what I just did, make pros and cons see which weighs more.
Coming from a S3 : the nexus camera is impressive with HDR+ enabled and also in low light conditions. I expected weak battery but it is good enough and very very low power use with the standby mode (if you keep location reporting off)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I came from a Samung Galaxy SIII. I notice a huge and I mean huge difference in performance all around including camera. The only thing I miss is the instant shutter on the camera on the S3. Camera quality is great in my opinion. I am on ATT with my nexus 5 and love the network speed. The screen is better in m opinion to and easier to see in direct sunlight. From my short experience with a nexus phone. I will never go back to a non nexus phone ever again
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I made the switch from s4 as well to N5 and love it. The s4 is just gathering dust now, I should probably sell it ...
Lowkey1 said:
Looking to get a Nexus 5, If I sell my s4 I can ultimately gain an extra $40 from it as well. I was using a N4 prior to my s4, only thing I hated on the N4 was the washed out display and weak camera. My reason to switch again is Stock Android which I do miss with fast updates and great community for rom development, and also if the camera is great for decent shots (indoor, outdoor) I've read reviews but there all mixed. Please share some experience if you have any
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went from a Galaxy Nexus, and then to a temporary Nokia Lumia 521 for a month or so until grabbed this Nexus 5.
My girlfriend has a Note 3 and I used that thing extensively, and I find my Nexus 5 to be so much better.
It feels better, looks better, and is small enough to be large but still usable with one hand (with some shimmying).
Highly suggested that you get a Nexus 5.
And what about batery life compare to s4 or s3?
layt said:
And what about batery life compare to s4 or s3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife has a s4, and I would say it's about the same as my nexus 5 if not a little better due to the bigger size.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
layt said:
And what about batery life compare to s4 or s3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My battery life with the N5 has been at least as good or better than the S4. I liked my S4, but the N5 is a superior phone in almost every way and I don't for a second regret making the switch.

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